This post is not meant to reflect poorly upon the quality of Gourmet Hawaiian Kava's products in any way, shape, or form. I take full responsibility for the events I'm going to describe here, and have never had a similar experience with any of GHK's Kava, including Mo'i; all others have been lovely.
Backstory:
Last tuesday, I consumed 8 tablespoons of GHK Mo'i prepped traditional style in 16 oz of water for 30 minutes. It went great, drank it while I watched the sun set from a bridge and biked home as it crept up on me as Mo'i typicall does, and it was definitely among the best Kava experiences I've ever had. Yesterday, I decided to drink the same amount in the same circumstances, plus another 8oz prepped for 15 minutes with the same Kava after the main wash. I figured it would be like the previous time, but a little more intense. It was not.
The first time, I remember being able to really lock in with the music that I was listening to on the way home - this time around I ended up not really feeling like listening to anything in particular, and if anything, just felt kind of sedated and a little nauseous. As I continued home, the nausea worsened, and as I made dinner I developed an awful headache that wouldn't end until the next morning. But after making dinner, I sat down and tried watching a movie I'd just heard of (admittedly not the best idea when you're nursing a headache) and hoped the migraine pill I just took (don't worry, I know for a fact from research and experience that negative reactions don't occur when I combine it with Kava) would deal with the headache. It didn't. Something like half an hour into the movie, I found myself so consumed by the nausea and the headache that I couldn't manage to eat or watch the movie anymore. I put the food in the fridge and hopped in the shower, hoping the hot water would relieve muscle tension above my shoulders that's typical of migraines; it felt alright, but I still spent most of the shower bent over against the wall wondering if I was going to vomit or if this headache could get worse. After the shower, I stumbled over to my bed and, when the headache had toned down enough to allow it, cycled between passing out and waking up until around 12:30AM, at which point I brushed my teeth and flopped back down in bed, having significant trouble sleeping from that point on.
Here's what I think might have gone on, though I'm not sure and open to suggestions, as I'd really like to understand what I could have paid attention to better in order to avoid this: my allergies start to get to me every time the weather starts changing, and it's finally getting kind of chilly down here in Florida. That, and I also ran out of Zyrtec recently, which I take daily when I have it; there could have been some chemical abnormalities resulting from the sudden lack of zyrtec in my system that the Kava didn't interact with well. I haven't been feeling like my allergies are really kicking in yet, but I did notice a weird amount of mucus in my throat shortly following the Kava.
Again, I don't think this is a result of any kind of lack of quality in the Kava. I'm just trying to figure out what variables in my own body resulted in this, and whether or not I could have known that they were what they were and avoided this whole ordeal.
Backstory:
Last tuesday, I consumed 8 tablespoons of GHK Mo'i prepped traditional style in 16 oz of water for 30 minutes. It went great, drank it while I watched the sun set from a bridge and biked home as it crept up on me as Mo'i typicall does, and it was definitely among the best Kava experiences I've ever had. Yesterday, I decided to drink the same amount in the same circumstances, plus another 8oz prepped for 15 minutes with the same Kava after the main wash. I figured it would be like the previous time, but a little more intense. It was not.
The first time, I remember being able to really lock in with the music that I was listening to on the way home - this time around I ended up not really feeling like listening to anything in particular, and if anything, just felt kind of sedated and a little nauseous. As I continued home, the nausea worsened, and as I made dinner I developed an awful headache that wouldn't end until the next morning. But after making dinner, I sat down and tried watching a movie I'd just heard of (admittedly not the best idea when you're nursing a headache) and hoped the migraine pill I just took (don't worry, I know for a fact from research and experience that negative reactions don't occur when I combine it with Kava) would deal with the headache. It didn't. Something like half an hour into the movie, I found myself so consumed by the nausea and the headache that I couldn't manage to eat or watch the movie anymore. I put the food in the fridge and hopped in the shower, hoping the hot water would relieve muscle tension above my shoulders that's typical of migraines; it felt alright, but I still spent most of the shower bent over against the wall wondering if I was going to vomit or if this headache could get worse. After the shower, I stumbled over to my bed and, when the headache had toned down enough to allow it, cycled between passing out and waking up until around 12:30AM, at which point I brushed my teeth and flopped back down in bed, having significant trouble sleeping from that point on.
Here's what I think might have gone on, though I'm not sure and open to suggestions, as I'd really like to understand what I could have paid attention to better in order to avoid this: my allergies start to get to me every time the weather starts changing, and it's finally getting kind of chilly down here in Florida. That, and I also ran out of Zyrtec recently, which I take daily when I have it; there could have been some chemical abnormalities resulting from the sudden lack of zyrtec in my system that the Kava didn't interact with well. I haven't been feeling like my allergies are really kicking in yet, but I did notice a weird amount of mucus in my throat shortly following the Kava.
Again, I don't think this is a result of any kind of lack of quality in the Kava. I'm just trying to figure out what variables in my own body resulted in this, and whether or not I could have known that they were what they were and avoided this whole ordeal.
